PM addresses Mekong Delta’s environment crisis
The Mekong Delta is seeing land subsidence faster than the sea level rise and is at risk of sinking, PM Pham Minh Chinh said as he visited the region on Saturday.
The rate of land subsidence in the delta, the nation’s agriculture hub, is 3-4 times higher and 10 times higher in some places compared to the sea level rise, the PM said.
“Over the past 50 years, the area of mangroves in the Mekong Delta has decreased by about 80%. Particularly between 2011 and 2016, 300-500 hectares of mangroves were lost each year, affecting thousands of households along the coast, riverside and canals,” PM Chinh told a meeting with authorities of 13 localities in the delta.
An Binh, Ngoc Tai
